Twenty20 semi-final 1 - Sussex v Yorkshire

It's Twenty20 finals day and first up was Sussex v Yorkshire. Sussex are in the better form and have the better record (Yorkshire have never made finals day before). Here's what happened.


Yorkshire won the toss and decided to bat

Gale opened the batting and soon got the innings moving with two boundaries. Yardy and Styris opened the bowling and it was the latter who made the break through. Gale had just hit his second 4, when he chipped the next ball to Nash to depart for 11. Jaques struggled on but two overs later was bowled by Styris for 2 from 9 balls. With Yorkshire pegged back on 19-2 Sussex continued with Yardy and Styris and the tactic worked as Styris picked up his third wicket by having Root lbw for 11 to leave the score on 36-3.
     Yardy and Styris bowled through and Yorkshire had to consolidate with Bairstow and Miller now at the crease. Bairstow dug in, while Miller tried to keep the runs flowing. Together they took the score past 100 in the 14th over and put themselves back in a position to attack in the last 6 overs. Miller went on to 47 off 35 balls with two 6s but was caught off the bowling of Nash.
     Bairstow took up the charge and put on 29 with Ballance (7). Ballance was caught off Liddle, who also picked up the wicket of Bresnan (6) as Yorkshire slipped back to 153-6. Bairstow however smashed three 6s to go to 68 not out from 45 balls. Yorkshire finished on 172-6 and had added 70 from the final 6 overs.

The early stages of Sussex's innings followed a similar pattern to that of Yorkshire's. Nash made the better start with a 6 and a 4, but Wright was clean bowled by Sidebottom for 4, with the score on 12. Prior then spooned one into the air and was caught by Ballance off Bresnan to leave Sussex 15-2.
     Goodwin scored 15 out of 40 for the third wicket as Sussex kept themselves in the match but regular wickets continued to fall. Pyrah picked up two and Bresnan took a second to leave Sussex on 93-6.
     Nash went to an excellent half century and was still finding the boundary but with little support the run rate rose rapidly. Yardy struggled to add runs and was run out by Root, and then Beer was unfortunate to be run out backing up after the ball deflected off Sidebottom's hand. Nash finished on 80 not out from 58 balls but Sussex fell well short as Yorkshire made the final on their first time at finals day.


Yorkshire - 172-6 (Bairstow 68*, Styris 3 for 22)
Sussex - 136-8 (Nash 80*, Bresnan 2 for 22)

Star Player: Nash, for the best innings of the day, despite being on the losing team. He also took a wicket.